A WAR THAT NEVER ENDS

Unit Formed In Fight Against Drugs Marks 10 Years At Fort Bliss

FORT BLISS, Texas - In time of war, multimilitary units generally are set
up on a temporary basis with a defined mission to be completed within a
specified time frame.

But when Joint Task Force Six was established 10 years ago, it joined
federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in a battle against
illegal drugs that continues unabated.

"Operations other than war take a long time to complete," Brig. Gen. Dorian
Anderson, the eighth commander of JTF-6, said during a ceremony Thursday to
commemorate the unit's 10th anniversary.

Headquartered at Biggs Army Airfield at Fort Bliss, JTF-6 has assisted law
enforcement officials by building roads, setting up listening stations and
flying reconnaissance aircraft to snap aerial photographs of the Southwest
border.

"To me, the most remarkable accomplishment is that it still exists today,"
said Brig. Gen. Richard Behrenhausen, the unit's first commander. "It's a
real testament that it is a truly established, intricate part of the war on
drugs."

Brig. Gen. Behrenhausen, who retired in 1991, said that when he was given
the command a decade ago, he was warned that he was taking over a unit with
no concrete way to measure success and ample opportunity for tragedy and
unfavorable press.

Those assessments came true in recent years when JTF-6 participated in drug
narcotics surveillance operations along the border that resulted in several
shootings. One of them ended in 1997 with the death of a teenage goat
herder in Redford, a border town about 200 miles southeast of El Paso.

Military operations on the border have since ceased.

Brig. Gen. Anderson, who took command last year, said that incident was a
defining moment for JTF-6.

"It made us stand back . . . and re-examine ourselves," he said.
Militarizing the border, he added, is not the answer to solving the
nation's drug-smuggling problem.

"I don't think our country needs us to do that, not on the border with
Mexico," he said. "They're our friends, just like Canada."

JTF-6 is a multiservice command of 170 soldiers, sailors, Marines, airmen
and civilian employees. It was initially established to support federal,
state and local law enforcement agencies along the 2,000-mile southwest
border. The area of responsibility now extends across the nation.

Since its inception, JTF-6 has completed more than 4,300 missions in
support of more than 300 law enforcement agencies. In addition to
engineering work, the force also provides training and intelligence analysis.

Authorities pay particular attention to three drug-trafficking entities in
Mexico: the Tijuana Cartel headed by the Arellano-Felix brothers; the
Juarez Cartel believed to be led by Vicente Carrillo Fuentes; and the Gulf
Cartel, based in Matamoros, whose leadership remains unclear.

In the United States, the unit contends with increased marijuana harvests
and the establishment of methamphetamine labs. Main drug distribution
cities include, New York, Chicago, Miami, Houston, El Paso and Los Angeles.

Along the U.S.-Mexico border, a primary emphasis for JTF-6 is assisting
agencies such as the U.S. Border Patrol to get closer to the border by
building roads officials can use to detect, track and stop narcotics.

"It's a valuable resource to have," said Doug Mosier, a spokesman for the
Border Patrol in El Paso. "Their assistance in road construction and other
support areas has been extremely beneficial."

Brig. Gen. Anderson said winning the war on drugs would entail finding a
way to make drug smuggling unprofitable. That would mean persuading
Americans to kick the drug habit.

"If it was a simple problem, it would have been solved," Brig. Gen.
Anderson said.